Devonshire REIT, based in Whitehouse, Ohio, has acquired this Beachwood shopping center from a group of local owners. The grocery-anchored property changed hands Friday for $34.3 million.Devonshire REIT

Real estate records show that Devonshore REIT, a private real estate investment trust based in Whitehouse, Ohio, paid $34.3 million on Friday for the East Side property.

Comprising 250,000 square feet at Chagrin Boulevard and Fire Station Drive, the shopping plaza centers on a Giant Eagle store and includes Big Lots, Marshalls, Michael's and other tenants. According to a news release, the space is 97 percent occupied.

In the news release, Devonshire executives said the property hits their sweet spot - a grocery-store anchor, other value-focused tenants, a good location and financial upside.

"We also see it as a great opportunity to establish relationships with national tenants, like Stein Mart and Petco, who don't currently have stores in any of our other properties," Mike Denman, the company's president of real estate operations, said in the news release.

Institutional real estate investors are bullish on grocery-anchored centers, which promise steady traffic and are somewhat buffered from the growth of online shopping. Discounters and other deal-focused retailers also are holding up well, even as office-supply stores, electronics stores and chain bookstores struggle.

The Cuyahoga County Fiscal Office estimates that the Pavilion is worth $23.6 million, roughly $11 million less than what Devonshire paid. But it's not unusual to see a gap between the public valuation and private-market price for a property.

Devonshire owns and operates 44 properties, primarily in the Midwest. The company's chief executive officer expects the Pavilion purchase to add more than $1 million to Devonshire's cash flow, after debt payments. Huntington Bank financed the deal.

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